SpaceQhttp://spaceq.ca
Space news and analysis.Wed, 13 Dec 2017 15:20:00 +0000en-CAhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.4http://spaceq.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/cropped-spaceq_mobile_512x512_reitna-32x32.jpgSpaceQhttp://spaceq.ca
3232122153163U.S. Space Policy Now Officially Includes a Human Return to the Moonhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SpacerefCanada/~3/TfZYDNAWWew/
http://spaceq.ca/u-s-space-policy-now-officially-includes-a-human-return-to-the-moon/#respondMon, 11 Dec 2017 22:03:19 +0000http://www.spaceq.ca/?p=7691With his signature on what is now known as Space Policy Directive 1, President Trump made it official, the U.S. is sending humans back to the moon. Now comes the hard work. It’s no secret that President Trump supports the space program. He does so in part because it creates jobs in many states, but also …

]]>With his signature on what is now known as Space Policy Directive 1, President Trump made it official, the U.S. is sending humans back to the moon. Now comes the hard work.

It’s no secret that President Trump supports the space program. He does so in part because it creates jobs in many states, but also because he wants to be remembered as the President that sent Americans to another planetary body, in this case the moon.

Trump’s first choice was Mars, but since that won’t happen during his possible eight year tenure as President, he chose to endorse Americans going back to the moon.

The White released the following statement on today’s ceremony;

“The President, today, will sign Space Policy Directive 1 (SPD-1) that directs the NASA Administrator to lead an innovative space exploration program to send American astronauts back to the Moon, and eventually Mars.

Since the beginning of his Administration, President Trump has taken steps to refocus NASA on its core mission of space exploration by signing the NASA Transition Authorization Act, the INSPIRE Women Act, and an Executive Order on Reviving the National Space Council.

The President listened to the National Space Council’s recommendations and he will change our nation’s human spaceflight policy to help America become the driving force for the space industry, gain new knowledge from the cosmos, and spur incredible technology.”

“The directive I am signing today will refocus America’s space program on human exploration and discovery, It marks a first step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, for long-term exploration and use.” – @POTUS Trump pic.twitter.com/tNNUz06vEb

The reaction

Industry was quick to react to the news with the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) saying the “CSF applauds President Trump for signing Space Policy Directive 1, which directs NASA to partner with the U.S. commercial space industry to return Americans to the Moon,” said Eric Stallmer, President of CSF. “The U.S. commercial space industry has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in private capital to develop innovative capabilities for lunar transport, operations, and resource utilization. CSF recommends that the Administration challenge NASA to leverage these commercial capabilities to generate greater efficiency, and to partner with industry through flexible, innovative contracting approaches, to achieve the goals set out in Space Policy Directive 1 as quickly as possible.”

US Constitution Art 1 Sec 9:”
7: No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; “
JFK announced moon landing in a speech before Congress requesting appropriations

Applauding POTUS “Space Policy Directive 1” for NASA to return Americans to the Moon in partnership with the U.S. commercial space industry. We are excited to continue our partnership with NASA under the #LunarCATALYST program as we work toward our 2018 maiden flight to the Moon. https://t.co/IBoarJOkYU

What does it mean for the U.S.?

This is where politics and funding come into play. By signing the directive President Trump is pushing NASA and Congress to get on board with his policy. There is no new money in NASA’s 2018 fiscal year (FY) budget for this new policy. The question is, what kind of funding will there be in NASA’s 2019 FY budget? And will Congress be on board with this policy and provide the needed funding to make it happen?

President Trump wants an American at least in orbit around the moon before he leaves office in 2024, assuming he gets a second term. That’s a tall order. However, unlike President Kennedy, Trump might have the luxury of choosing between commercial human rated spacecraft by Boeing and SpaceX and possibly the government Space Launch System’s Orion spacecraft.

What does it mean for Canada?

The Canadian government will take notice of this new official U.S. policy and plan accordingly, meaning cautiously. Canada is in the midst of attempting to define its own space strategy and the Canadian Space Agency has been laying the groundwork for Canada’s participation in any new moon initiative. The new U.S. policy will add weight to any new initiatives announced in next springs budget.

It’s not inconceivable that a Canadian astronaut could be part of a human mission to the moon by 2030.

Updated: 9:00 a.m. EST, Tuesday, December 12, 2017 to include the link to the Presidential Memorandum on Reinvigorating America’s Human Space Exploration Program.

]]>http://spaceq.ca/u-s-space-policy-now-officially-includes-a-human-return-to-the-moon/feed/07691http://spaceq.ca/u-s-space-policy-now-officially-includes-a-human-return-to-the-moon/Over Seven Years the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge has Engaged Hundreds of Studentshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SpacerefCanada/~3/QVKCx0PrVP8/
http://spaceq.ca/over-seven-years-the-canadian-satellite-design-challenge-has-engaged-hundreds-of-students/#commentsThu, 07 Dec 2017 18:40:00 +0000http://www.spaceq.ca/?p=7680If I told you that over the course of the last seven years upwards of a thousand Canadian students had participated in developing CubeSat missions you might think this was a the result of a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) initiative. You would be wrong though. There was a time the CSA was interested in this, early this …

]]>If I told you that over the course of the last seven years upwards of a thousand Canadian students had participated in developing CubeSat missions you might think this was a the result of a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) initiative. You would be wrong though. There was a time the CSA was interested in this, early this decade and before, but poor leadership in government, and to some extent at the CSA, meant the ball was dropped in this area.

The CSDC is a Canada-wide competition for teams of university students, undergraduate and graduate, to design and build a small satellite. To be clear, this is a competition where the students create their own team at their respective university. It is not a university led program. They do get some guidance from professors at their institutions. Students must also raise funds to build their satellites. Reeves figures upwards of a 1000 students have participated in the competition which is quite an achievement.

The CSDC is in its 4th competition having completed 3 previous competitions since its inception in 2011. Larry and a core group of volunteers manage the CSDC in their spare time with some support from industry and the CSA.

CSA support is not in funds, but in-kind, with the use of the David Florida Lab to test the teams satellites. And Reeves is happy with that support.

The CSDC could use more support though as they’ve been short on funds to get the winning university teams satellite into space. This is ironic as the CSA has just initiated their own Canadian CubeSat Project where teams will get a ride into space. I still don’t understand why the CSA won’t find a mechanism to send the CSDC winning teams satellite into space. It makes no sense. The contribution the CSDC has made is substantial and ongoing.

Larry’s day job is that of an engineer at the Earth Observation company UrtheCast.

Updated: 5:45 p.m. EST.

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]]>http://spaceq.ca/over-seven-years-the-canadian-satellite-design-challenge-has-engaged-hundreds-of-students/feed/17680http://spaceq.ca/over-seven-years-the-canadian-satellite-design-challenge-has-engaged-hundreds-of-students/Procurement Process of Canada’s Next Military Satellite Project Stuck in the 20th Centuryhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SpacerefCanada/~3/2Y9svRAWx84/
http://spaceq.ca/procurement-process-of-canadas-next-military-satellite-project-stuck-in-the-20th-century/#respondWed, 06 Dec 2017 16:41:31 +0000http://www.spaceq.ca/?p=7666The Department of National Defence (DND) this week released the long anticipated Request for Information for the Enhanced Satellite Communication Project – Polar (ESPC-P), or simply called Escape. If rapid development and deployment was important to DND then they would be out of luck in getting this satellite project on-orbit and operational anytime soon. It …

If rapid development and deployment was important to DND then they would be out of luck in getting this satellite project on-orbit and operational anytime soon.

It seems any type of military procurement takes more than a decade from start to finish. The procurement of ESCP-P could take 12 years.

A contract award for ESCP-P is anticipated at being no later 2024. By the time the satellite is launched and operational it could be 2029. The estimated costs in 2016 was $1.5B.

DND ESCP procurement timeline. Credit: Government of Canada.

Why so long?

Blame the government. There’s no one else to blame. To design, manufacture, launch and deploy a satellite, even a sophisticated military satellite does not need to take 12 years. No, this is simply an issue of a government spreading out a procurement budget over a long period of time. And a satellite is much simpler to design, develop and build compared to a new ship or plane, and less costly.

To give you a sense on how fast things can change in the military procurement world, the Defence Acquisition Guide 2016 had the following anticipated timeline for ESCP-P;

2018 Definition Approval

2018 Request for Proposal Release

2019 Implementation Approval

2020 Contract Award

2024 Final Delivery

Another factor to consider is that a procurement contract won’t be awarded until later in the mandate of whichever government is in power after the next federal election in 2019. Will the next government, if it’s not the Liberals, support this project? Likely, but there’s no guarantee.

There’s no question that lead times for military procurement are long. But satellite technology and development are moving much faster now. This project could be completed much faster if there was a will.

The Procurement Details

According to the RFI the “ESCP-P compliments other DND initiatives such as the Mercury Global and the Tactical Narrowband SATCOM – Geosynchronous Projects which do not provide guaranteed BLOS (beyond line of sight) communications in the Arctic region.”

The objectives of this ESCP–P RFI are to:

Inform Industry of the Department of National Defence’s (DND) ESCP-P requirements;

Obtain input from Industry on the feasibility, deficiencies and proposed improvements with respect to potential options to meet the requirement needs;

Align this requirement with the Industry’s capabilities, as applicable;

Obtain Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) costing estimates from Industry.

Background

DND has initiated the ESCPP project to deliver both narrowband and wideband satellite communications (SATCOM) in the Arctic to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and potentially to other government departments and agencies (OGDAs) or allied partners. The project could include space and ground segments where a satellite constellation and ground terminals would be acquired and upgraded for Arctic operations.

The Arctic is a longstanding Government of Canada priority which requires CAF presence, mobility, and reach in the region. Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canadas Defence Policy released on 7 June 2017 includes investment in SATCOM including Arctic coverage. This will enhance the CAFs ability to conduct its cores missions defending Canada, defending North America through the North American Aerospace Defense Agreement (NORAD), in addition to surveillance and search and rescue missions.

SATCOM is a well-recognized force multiplier for the conduct of effective military operations and are critical for the successful execution of operations in the high north. Despite the importance of domestic sovereignty and surveillance missions in Canadas arctic region, there currently exists only limited SATCOM capabilities north of 65° North (65° N) latitude that are available to the CAF. To address this capability gap, the CAF has a need for dedicated, secure, and reliable narrowband and wideband beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) communications to support the execution of domestic and continental operations in the Arctic.

Those interested in this procurement have until March 15, 2018 to respond.

The Bidders

It will most likely be a very small group of bidders including MDA, Airbus Defence and Space, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and perhaps Magellan. Boeing is in the government’s doghouse right now but with such a long lead time, who knows if they’ll be in the running. There is a National Security Exception (NSE) attached to this procurement meaning that Canada can exclude the procurement “from some or all of the obligations in the relevant trade agreement(s), where Canada considers it necessary to do so in order to protect its national security interests specified in the text of the NSE.”

One of those agreements is the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which might not exist by the time the Request for Proposals is available.

]]>http://spaceq.ca/procurement-process-of-canadas-next-military-satellite-project-stuck-in-the-20th-century/feed/07666http://spaceq.ca/procurement-process-of-canadas-next-military-satellite-project-stuck-in-the-20th-century/Optimism Meets Falling off a Cliff at the Canadian Space Society Space Summithttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SpacerefCanada/~3/7zpQHiLX1-w/
http://spaceq.ca/optimism-meets-falling-off-a-cliff-at-the-canadian-space-society-space-summit/#respondMon, 04 Dec 2017 20:24:47 +0000http://www.spaceq.ca/?p=7551Depending on who you talked to at the Canadian Space Society annual Space Summit you might come away thinking optimistically about the future of Canada’s space sector or that we’re on precipice about to fall off the cliff. Why such diverse opinions? It really comes down to where you sit in the space ecosystem. Long …

]]>Depending on who you talked to at the Canadian Space Society annual Space Summit you might come away thinking optimistically about the future of Canada’s space sector or that we’re on precipice about to fall off the cliff.

Why such diverse opinions?

It really comes down to where you sit in the space ecosystem. Long established companies spoke of “falling off a cliff”, while young inexperienced New Space companies and future entrepreneurs, saw opportunity, and hence were optimistic.

Which of these two views is right? That’s an easy question to answer. They’re both right.

The Established Large Players

Essentially large established companies are looking to the government for new infrastructure programs to help them maintain their workforce and bring in additional revenue.

Without new programs, revenue will be hit and workforce reductions may begin.

The good news is that the government understands this. It also understands that space should be declared a national strategic asset. It also understands that the space portfolio, civil and military, has been neglected and needs an infusion of new money.

The question is, will they announce something significant in the next budget?

And before I answer that question, there are couple of things to consider.

If past history of government support towards the space sector, Liberal and Conservative, is any indication, well, don’t hold your breath for a lot of new money.

There’s also that new Space Strategy to consider. What’s in it? Will it be a precursor to a Long Term Space Plan?

Even without know what’s in the new Space Strategy, all indications are that the next budget will include some new funding for the civil space program. That is, unless some dire economic news derails the budget process.

There’s also the next election to consider. While the next budget should include new money available before the election in October 2019, some large program items, if any, may be budgeted beyond the current mandate of the government. Which of course means funding may be contingent on whether the current Liberal government gets re-elected. A Conservative or NDP government might not be inclined to continue funding for Liberal initiatives.

It’s clear when you listen to MDA, Magellan and Honeywell representatives, especially Honeywell, that we’re close to falling off a cliff.

Honeywell, formerly COM DEV, has already seen a massive drop in its workforce. We reported in early September of layoffs amounting for 49% of their Cambridge facility workforce. Some of those layoffs are attributed to the type of work Honeywell does. Satellite component orders that Honeywell provides have tanked as companies reconsider their large Geostationary satellite purchase strategies.

Will MDA be next?

They certainly won’t see the same amount of workforce reduction, but it is possible that some of their workforce may have to be let go. Some of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission workforce will soon be without work. While the company can move some personnel around, not all of them can transition to other projects. And it’s not just the loss of jobs, it’s the loss of highly skilled experienced workers in specific areas that can’t easily be replaced once they are gone.

The good news for MDA is that as a division of the larger Maxar Technologies company they should see more work for other areas within the company.

New Space, New Opportunities

When SpaceQ recently talked to some New Space companies during and before the Summit, you get the sense that there’s optimism in their outlook. Part of that can be attributed to the owners of these companies being young and inexperienced in the Canadian marketplace. But there’s more. There’s a sense that there are more opportunities, and that venture funding might be soon be more readily available in Canada.

It also helps that the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) “has adapted.” That’s a message CSA president Sylvain Laporte telegraphed in his speech at the Summit.

Laporte said they had listened to the community and that they were in the process of “modernizing our processes.”

He cited the Space Technology Development Program where New Space companies felt threatened by large established companies. The solution? Make some funds available only to small businesses. The results according to Laporte is funding being allocated to these new companies, including some not normally associated with the space sector.

This is an important development. Before Laporte, this isn’t a change that would have happened.

Laporte wouldn’t mention any of the companies who had been selected as the contracts have not been signed or announced yet. The list of companies awarded contracts should be announced in the not too distance future. SpaceQ though has learned about one of those companies that will be awarded a contract and we can only say it is in a technology area which just a few years ago wouldn’t have been funded.

Although not really a new development, one CSA official told SpaceQ that they are looking to really increase Public – Private Partnerships going forward.

We’re Training Another Country’s Workforce

This one of those ongoing issues that just won’t go away.

Space Advisory Board (SAB) member Gordon Osinski who is an Assistant Professor and Director of Western University’s Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration, reiterated during his talk a finding from the SAB report that we’re still training students who are leaving Canada to work in the U.S. and elsewhere.

This isn’t a new phenomena. However, it seems to disproportionately affect the space sector.

There is some positive news. The CSA “has reinitiated” a program that allows students to be part of competition to attend large international conferences. The students must submit papers which will be selected for presentation at these conferences. As an example, the CSA brought about dozen students to Australia for the annual International Astronautical Congress. The CSA sees this as an opportunity for students to develop needed skills to succeed and to choose a career in the space sector and hopefully stay in Canada.

Staying in Canada though depends on whether there are jobs. That’s an area the government is trying to work on though their Innovation agenda. It will be some time yet before we see what the results are of this effort.

Contact Your Member of Parliament

Heading into the next budget cycle space industry and advocacy associations are working on a plan to get all of their collective members out in force to contact their local Members of Parliament to talk to them about the space program and its need for new funding.

That program should be rolling out soon. It’s the first time in my recent memory that such a broad effort has been undertaken.

Military Space is Getting a Boost

While we still don’t know what specific programs are going to get in the way of funding, we do know that the Department of National Defense’s Space Division is getting a serious boost in personnel.

In his speech at the summit, newly appointed and promoted Brigadier-General Kevin G. Whale, Director General & Component Commander – Space, said over the next five years he will be tripling his staff, adding 120 new positions.

]]>http://spaceq.ca/optimism-meets-falling-off-a-cliff-at-the-canadian-space-society-space-summit/feed/07551http://spaceq.ca/optimism-meets-falling-off-a-cliff-at-the-canadian-space-society-space-summit/The CSA, NSERC Team up With the Little Inventors on Educational Initiativehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SpacerefCanada/~3/Ylo_BlsRe1c/
http://spaceq.ca/the-csa-nserc-team-up-with-the-little-inventors-on-educational-initiative/#respondFri, 01 Dec 2017 17:38:29 +0000http://www.spaceq.ca/?p=7610The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have partnered with Little Inventors to challenge and engage children “to come up with invention solutions to help astronauts with their lives up in orbit.” Little Inventors is the creation of Dominic Wilcox an “inspirational inventor, designer and artist who creates …

Here are some of the ways listed teachers and schools can participate;

Students are invited to work on their own ideas for useful inventions to makes life in space easier and more fun.

Teachers will be given tools and resources to support the idea-generation phase with students.

Students are invited to develop ideas on the theme of Astronauts living in space, but can also extend their invention ideas to space travel or astronaut training – as supported in the full resource package.

Your students’ invention ideas will be uploaded to our website and some of them could be made real – a fantastic inventive way to inspire your Little Inventors.

Yesterday, Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques participated in the unveiling of the new program and discussed his role. The full video presentation is below.

LIVE NOW – Discover Little Inventors – Inventions for Space with its Chief inventor and Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques. Learn more: http://nserc.littleinventors.org/

]]>http://spaceq.ca/the-csa-nserc-team-up-with-the-little-inventors-on-educational-initiative/feed/07610http://spaceq.ca/the-csa-nserc-team-up-with-the-little-inventors-on-educational-initiative/Japan Sets its Sights on Lunar Resourceshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SpacerefCanada/~3/cI8n4S6mJ3Y/
http://spaceq.ca/japan-sets-its-sights-on-lunar-resources/#commentsThu, 30 Nov 2017 18:21:47 +0000http://www.spaceq.ca/?p=7602Today’s podcast was recorded at the Canadian Space Society’s annual Space Summit in Ottawa on November 21st . I spoke with Dr. Kazuya Yoshida of Tohoku University in Japan. Dr. Yoshida is also a Director and Chief Technology Officer of iSpace, a Japanese New Space startup with ambitions to use the moons resources, water to start, …

Dr. Yoshida is also a Director and Chief Technology Officer of iSpace, a Japanese New Space startup with ambitions to use the moons resources, water to start, to develop a lunar economic base. iSpace also manages the Japanese Google Lunar X Prize entry, Hakuto.

Dr. Yoshida is a robotics expert and has served as the Director of the Centre of Robotics for Extreme and Uncertain Environments at Tohoku University. He has worked for many years on Japanese robotic missions including the asteroid sample return mission Hayabusa. The technology and rovers developed at his lab at Tohoku University have also been used in disaster response.

We discussed Team Hakuto’s Google Lunar X Prize entry which is dependant on India’s Team Indus for its ride to the moon. Team Indus however is short on cash and may not meet the Google Lunar X Prize deadline of March 31, 2018 to have launched to the moon.

We also discussed iSpace plans beyond the Google Lunar X Prize including their funding needs.

As you’ll hear, iSpace is almost set to announce its first round of equity venture funding.

Dr. Yoshida and his colleagues are also developing what he calls “Cliff Hanger” and “Rock Climber” robotic machines designed for future asteroid exploration and which could also be used on the moon.

Dr. Yoshida and his colleagues have developed a rich knowledge base in microsatellite and rover technology development which are set to be commercialized at iSpace.

Listen to and Subscribe to the Podcast

You can subscribe to the podcast using your favourite podcast app (iOS and Android). For apps like OverCast or Pocket Cast you can search using the podcast title SpaceQ or use the RSS feed URL listed below.

]]>http://spaceq.ca/japan-sets-its-sights-on-lunar-resources/feed/27602http://spaceq.ca/japan-sets-its-sights-on-lunar-resources/Astronaut David Saint-Jacques to Perform New Health Experiments on the International Space Stationhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SpacerefCanada/~3/wcA8yl7U-LU/
http://spaceq.ca/astronaut-david-saint-jacques-to-perform-new-health-experiments-on-the-international-space-station/#respondWed, 29 Nov 2017 21:41:41 +0000http://www.spaceq.ca/?p=7587David Saint-Jacques, Canada’s next astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS), will perform a variety of science experiments during his six month stay including two new health experiments announced today. Saint-Jacques is scheduled to launch on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS in November of 2018. Today, while the Canadian Space Agency hosted …

]]>David Saint-Jacques, Canada’s next astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS), will perform a variety of science experiments during his six month stay including two new health experiments announced today.

Saint-Jacques is scheduled to launch on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS in November of 2018.

Today, while the Canadian Space Agency hosted a two day national forum on space, health and innovation, Saint-Jacques outlined the science experiments he’ll conduct including the two new health experiments; the Immuno Profile experiment and the Vascular Aging experiment.

Space has tremendous effects on the human body! As we prepare for journeys to more distant destinations like Mars, humankind must tackle these risks to ensure safe travel for our modern explorers. The impacts of microgravity mirror aging and the complications of a sedentary lifestyle. By studying astronauts’ health, we also help people on Earth. Credit: Canadian Space Agency.

The Immuno Profile experiment “will investigate and monitor astronauts’ immune systems over long-duration missions on board the ISS. The results may help us understand how certain diseases evolve over time, such as the reactivation of latent viral infections and age-related decreases in immune defences.”

While the Vascular Aging experiment will build “on previous work in space, this experiment will study the impact of weightlessness, nutrition, physical activity and radiation on the cardiovascular system and the onset of insulin resistance in orbit. This collaborative study will be the first of its kind and will provide insights that will maintain crew health and point to important lifestyle factors that can affect us on Earth.”

According to the CSA Saint-Jacques will also “wear a biotechnological device that will eventually improve our ability to monitor the health of astronauts. He will also test a new instrument known as a bio-analyzer, which will perform near real-time analysis of blood.”

]]>Human error is suspected according to Russian state news agency Interfax in the loss today of Russia’s Meteor-M weather satellite and 18 other secondary payloads which included Telesat’s first Low Earth Orbit (LEO) prototype satellite.

The launch took place Vostochny launch complex, Russia’s new eastern launch centre near the border with China. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket launched 12:41:46 a.m. EST and the mission appeared to be going well.

The Interfax website quotes an industry source as saying (translated) “According to preliminary data, there was an error in the flight task of the carrier rocket and the Fregat booster block, as a result of which the first impulse was issued in the wrong orientation, so the upper stage together with the satellite entered the atmosphere and fell into the Atlantic Ocean.”

Telesat confirmed the loss issuing a statement saying “Telesat learned this morning that the Soyuz 2 launch vehicle that was to place 19 spacecraft into orbit, including Telesat’s first Phase 1 LEO satellite, has failed.”

They did note in the release that the second prototype LEO satellite will be launching next month using a different launch provider, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). In October, Dan Goldberg told SpaceQ in an interview that they had purposefully not launched the two satellites with the same provider just in case something might happen with the launch.

SpaceQ contacted Telesat to inquire if the lost satellite would be replaced, but has yet to hear back from Telesat on this question. However, according to the Space Intel Report website, Telesat’s insurance only becomes effective if both its prototype satellites fail to launch.

]]>http://spaceq.ca/telesat-losses-first-prototype-leo-satellite-as-russian-launch-ends-in-failure/feed/07573http://spaceq.ca/telesat-losses-first-prototype-leo-satellite-as-russian-launch-ends-in-failure/Using the Arts and Education to Engage Canada’s Next Space Generationhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SpacerefCanada/~3/NbRcPtpWRf8/
http://spaceq.ca/using-the-arts-and-education-to-engage-canadas-next-space-generation/#respondTue, 28 Nov 2017 12:45:07 +0000http://www.spaceq.ca/?p=7565In reference to cult classic Star Trek, this year’s Canada Space Society Space Summit’s theme was “Canada’s Next Space Generation.” Scientists, industry, government and educators gathered to discuss the future of the Canadian space industry. An overarching theme in panels and speeches was communication and engagement, and how to get people and youth outside of …

Scientists, industry, government and educators gathered to discuss the future of the Canadian space industry.

An overarching theme in panels and speeches was communication and engagement, and how to get people and youth outside of the space sector interested the industry.

How to engage the public? That had as many answers as people at the summit.

Astronauts, More Astronauts

Astronauts were the most popular candidates for space ambassadors. Sylvain Laporte, President of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), said that last year’s astronaut recruitment campaign generated 22 million website impressions, and social media exploded with comments, requests and questions.

Laporte said that the agency was trying to ignite pride in Canadians, in their talents, and in their space industry.

The popularity of former astronaut Chris Hadfield since his stint as commander of the International Space Station (ISS), permeated these discussions.

Marianne Mader is a planetary scientist and a director at the Royal Ontario Museum. In an education panel she showed a slide of Hadfield with The Martian actor, Matt Damon, holding a piece of Martian rock. This rock, from the museum’s collection, Hadfield delivered to the red carpet as the museum’s ambassador, says Mader. The former astronaut being at the intersection of celebrity and scientist provided the opportunity for this moment to go viral.

Other Space and Science Ambassadors

Not everyone can be an astronaut. But there are other celebrity scientists, including Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Carl Sagan, who have bridged the complex subjects of space science with popular culture.

Arts and Culture panelist, Michael Unger, of the H.R. MacMillan Pacific Space Centre, in Vancouver, B.C. holds an annual Carl Sagan day. They watch movies, eat apple pie, and discuss science. While he’s had some push back from his colleagues, Unger argued that Carl Sagan day is important.

“It is for the science communicators, because he’s our hero,” said Unger. He likens the current science education climate to a war.

Unger is concerned with science-denying organizations, specifically, flat-Earthers, and their belief that the world is flat. A recent flat-Earther convention, has brought more attention to the movement, and Unger said that flat-Earthers have been challenging his science centre on social media.

“It’s something we as science communicators need to take seriously,” said Unger. Sagan and other celebrities provide an accessibility that engages audiences, and hopefully educates.

Other science denying movements that have gained, or maintained recent popularity include climate change denial.

Celebrity is not the only way to engage the public. Isabel Deslauriers, another education panelist, is a manager at Let’s Talk Science. This is a national outreach program to engage youth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). She points to many hands-on activities that have been successful in lighting scientific flames in young eyes.

“You’re not going to turn every scientist into an engineer, but it’s important to give the kids who want it to have the chance,” says Deslauriers. “You want all kids to have a love for STEM and the life decisions that have a STEM basis.”

A particularly popular project was sending tomato seeds into space, returning them to Earth, and then distributing these seeds to school children. Children would grow the space seeds, as well as control seeds that had never left the planet, and observe differences in growing patterns. This data would all be sent to the University of Guelph for further analysis.

But beyond children, there are other sectors of society frequently left out of space conversations.

These include artists.

Artists and Science Fiction

Arts and culture panelist, Jim Parker, is one of the founders of the RumbleSat project. In this project, his team sent 150 pieces of art into orbit, then had them come back down. The art then went on tour in Canada.

Parker says that the importance of these art pieces come from the experience of having left the planet.

“Art is always about provenance,” says Parker, “They’re interesting because of where they are and where they’ve been.”

Two of the art pieces came back to Earth modified. In appearance it looks like water droplets got onto the pieces creating a stain, but Parker says, it doesn’t matter what happened, just that it did.

Ultimately Parker is fundraising for an unscrewed art studio in space. Artists’ interests don’t always align scientists’ interests. One of his group’s interests is how far you can throw an InkJet in space.

The arts and culture panel was the least populated of the entire summit, with perhaps a dozen people in the room, it had the misfortune of being placed in competition with the panel on space exploration.

This did not deter lively, and Star Trek reference filled, discussion.

]]>http://spaceq.ca/using-the-arts-and-education-to-engage-canadas-next-space-generation/feed/07565http://spaceq.ca/using-the-arts-and-education-to-engage-canadas-next-space-generation/Women in Space are Having a Greater Impacthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SpacerefCanada/~3/Jfgn3ybTkXk/
http://spaceq.ca/women-in-space-are-having-a-greater-impact/#respondMon, 27 Nov 2017 14:45:40 +0000http://www.spaceq.ca/?p=7557When Larisa Beach started in the aerospace industry more than three decades ago, she was a lone woman in a man’s world. “I was basically told I would go nowhere because I wasn’t a man,” she says, “I even had one place I applied to say you’re just going to get pregnant, have kids and …

]]>When Larisa Beach started in the aerospace industry more than three decades ago, she was a lone woman in a man’s world.

“I was basically told I would go nowhere because I wasn’t a man,” she says, “I even had one place I applied to say you’re just going to get pregnant, have kids and leave.”

Early in her career in Canada, Beach tried to enter the technical sector, but even when hired for technical jobs, she’d be put into data collection. If it was not what she wanted to do, Beach would quit. She worked hard and etched out a space for herself. After some time building knowledge in the aerospace and defence sectors, Beach founded Neptec 27 years ago. She’s spent much of the past two and a half decades with the company, which develops space technologies, for governments and industry, including NASA.

“The difference between then and now, is like night and day,” says Beach, “the battle today is the same one men and women face. You have to be qualified.”

Yet, there is still a representation problem with women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) industries. Which is why Beach was onstage at the annual Canadian Space Society (CSS) Space Summit in Ottawa last week. She was one of four women discussing their experiences as women in the space industry.

These included Taryn Tomlinson, an engineer and chief of staff at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Stella Melo, a manager in observation based research at Environment Canada, and Elise Harrington, a master’s student in Earth and planetary sciences at Western University.

They embody decades of experience in the space industry, and the challenges and advances women have made in the space sector.

Women and STEM – More Work Needed

While former astronaut, Julie Payette recently became Governor General of Canada, raising the profile of women in STEM, she is part of an exclusive club of women.

Out of the more than 500 people who have been to space, 59 have been women.

Out of the 14 Canadians recruited for astronaut training, 3 have been women.

The first Canadian went into space in 1983 (Marc Garneau), the first Canadian woman didn’t go up until 1992 (Roberta Bondar).

While women graduating from STEM programs was up 16 per cent from 30 years earlier, it marks an area where women are still fighting for representation. In engineering, it’s worse. Only 23 per cent of engineering graduates between the ages of 25 and 34, were women.

While these statistics are from 2011, they point to a trend which has gotten more and more attention in recent years. The 2016 census results for education levels, will be released on November 29, making a more current trend study possible.

The factors preventing women from reaching parity in STEM and space sectors are systemic and social, but are changing.

The youngest panelist, Harrington, comes from the millennial perspective. She speaks of “imposter syndrome” which she says she finds is higher among women. Imposter syndrome is where someone feels as though they do not belong, or are not good enough for the position they are in, or want to be in. Has implications for women applying for jobs in which one does not meet all the criteria.

A high profile example of this comes from just last year. Even with a conscious effort by the CSA to have women apply to their astronaut recruitment program, fewer than a quarter of the applicants were women.

Yet, qualified candidates are out there, one of the two CSA astronaut candidates selected last year was a woman, Jenni Sidey. The Cambridge lecturer with a PhD in combustible engineering beat out thousands of Canadians for this opportunity.

Panelists pointed to more inclusive job postings as one way of opening up jobs to women. Rewording job descriptions so that they’re not male-centric could encourage women to put their name in the running. Qualifications that could put women off could be as simple as demands for heavy lifting.

Tomlinson has space science and electrical engineering degrees, she’s worked with the European Space Agency, cofounded a space start-up, and has worked on the International Space Station’s Canadarm 2 and Dextre.

When hiring, Tomlinson says, look at candidates’ character and treat them as more than a list of CV-appropriate accomplishments, as people do many wonderful things that they do not list on their resumes.

Tomlinson mentioned a story where a few months ago, she was speaking with an executive director she admired. However, in this instance, he told her, “‘I’ve just reviewed a pile of CV’s, and mid-career, I find that men are just more qualified than women.’”

“That ‘more’ word is what bothers me,” says Tomlinson. “I think he’s talking about the titles, the accomplishments, the certifications, all the things you can check off on a CV. And some images of himself.”

Tomlinson stresses that she likes and respects these people who are doing this hiring, but that it’s a shift in thinking that needs to happen.

“You need people beside you who are not thinking like you, and we keep seeing people hire cookie-cutter images of themselves.”

This is an important observation considering a recent study that found that five per cent of Canadian CEOs in the technology industry are women. The study found as well, that the average technology company executive team is, on average, only 13 per cent female.

The study was conducted by PwC, MaRS Discovery district and MoveTheDial.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is a media darling topic today. There is an ongoing massive takedown of powerful Hollywood men who have been accused of sexual harassment by women as successful as Angelina Jolie and Uma Thurman. The popular hashtag #metoo has helped women in other industries speak up about their own experiences being objectified or harassed.

While some women at the conference noted that they in no way felt that they could compare their experiences in industry with Hollywood, Harrington comments that, “Just because other women have it worse, doesn’t mean we don’t need to have these conversations.”

Harrington tells the story of, as an undergraduate, being on internship in Japan. An older, male, PhD student announced to Harrington that she’d been voted, by his male colleagues, most attractive of the female interns.

“Why was I being critiqued in such a way?” Harrington asks the audience, “I’m here to look at meteorites and to dissolve them in acid and run them through multi-million dollar instruments, I’m not here to look pretty for you.”

“It’s not comfortable when you know that this is a way people are judging you,” says Harrington, “and this is something all women seem to face in all aspects of industry.”

Looking for Mentors

In industries where there are fewer female mentors, and where women might still be breaking through preconceptions of inferiority, the more experienced panelists suggest looking for women outside the industry for guidance. Sometimes it’s as little as just needing someone to talk to.

Melo suggests the social sciences, “Those people are great, and then you’re building a bigger bridge.”

While stories of implicit and explicit sexism dominated the women in space discussion, a genuine excitement about STEM professions permeated the discussion and the conference in general.

Tomlinson calls her engineering degree, “A passport to the world.”

Indeed, women made up 38 percent of the panelists at the Space Summit.

They ranged from scientists studying the impact of space travel on human health, to industry representatives for space commerce, to space science museum directors.

After more than thirty years in the business, Beach has found her way through the adversity.

“I’ve always met people, even recently, who were in some ways inappropriate. And you just ignore it. It’s no use getting angry because then you’re just an emotional woman if you do that. You ignore it and prove yourself with your deeds and actions.”

“Nothing is impossible, seize the opportunities, both personal, and in your career,” says Beach, “and then take care of other people.”